American actor J August Richards has come out as gay. The 46-year-old American actor who is best for his role as a vampire slayer in Angel came out on an Instagram Live with Council of Dads co-star Sarah Wayne Callies.
Richards is currently playing a gay doctor on NBC’s new show Council of Dads. His character, Dr Oliver Post, is a dad who is a father figure to the children of a friend who has died from cancer.
He describes his coming out as a “beautiful” experience thanks to the support from his fans. Richards explains that he doesn’t believe he can play his character if he doesn’t take responsibility and let the world know that he himself is a gay man.
He said:
“Everyone said it would be, but nothing could have prepared me. Yesterday was one of the best days of my life.”
“’Thank you’ feels like cheap words to describe the depths of the gratitude I feel for your support and the crushing avalanche of LOVE I felt aimed at me yesterday,” he continued.
”Who knew that something I once thought of as terrifying had within it something so beautiful… For every comment, like, emoji, repost, phone call, text message, everything. I felt it ALL… Thank you!!! #PRIDE #LGBTQ #BlackLGBTQ #ComingOut #SelfLove #SelfAcceptance”.
Saying that he felt a “pressure and responsibility” in playing Oliver, he explained:
”You have an opportunity to put an image into millions of homes and I wanted that image to be honest and correct. It required me to show up in a way that I haven’t always when I was working.”
“I knew that I could not portray this gay man honestly without letting you all know that I am a gay man myself,” he continued.
“I’ve never done that with the people that I’ve worked with. That responsibility carried me to do that because I knew how important it is to other people out there like me; people who would need to see that role model.”
Richards started his acting career as a child actor on The Cosby Show in 1988. His fame grew when he played vampire hunter Charles Gunn in Angel. He was a recurring character on the Buffy the Vampire Slayer spin-off for four seasons between 2000 and 2004.
He has also appeared as a regular character in Marvel’s Agents of SHIELD, Notorious and Kevin (Probably) Saves the World. Meanwhile, he’s also been in some of US TV’s biggest shows, including The West Wing and Grey’s Anatomy.